The Legacy of Serbian Heroes

The name “uskok”, or ambusher, refers to the people who after the
fall of Bosnia (1463) and Hercegovina (1482), did not want to remain
under Turkish rule and thus fled to Croatia and Slavonia. at first, they
were called “prebezi” (fugitives) and they were part of the border gar-
risons. Particularly, the people who were the ones to defended Klis
from the Turks under Captain Peter Kružic. When Klis fell (1537), they
moved to Senj bringing the name “uskok” with them and continuing
to fight bravely at sea and on land. By mid-sixteenth century Mlecics
helped them in their quests against the Turks. Since that time, after
the Turkish-Venetian reconciliation, a long-term hostility was created
between uskoks and the Mlecics. This hostility reached a peak in the
late sixteenth, early seventeenth century. for a number of years the
uskoks bravely resisted the Venetian-austrian pressure; even though
they were extruded from Senj, they would always try to come back…
In the middle and at the end of the sixteenth century deeds of Senj’s
uskoks were continued by uskoks from Kotor and coastal districts.
These were the people that came from Bosnia and Hercegovina escap-
ing from the deplorable life under the Turkish rule and set foot onto
Venetian soil and took a big part in two Venetian-Turkish wars – the
Cretan war (1645 – 1669) and the Morean war (1684 – 1688). The name
Creatan was given because the conflict started on the island of Candia,
i.e. in Crete.  as for the other name – Morean, it was adopted after the
name of the location where the greatest battles were held – Moray, ie
Peloponnese.
Therefore Stojan Jankovic is the hero in reality as well in songs. His
heroic image grows from poem to poem, and even stands out in The
Marriage of Zadar’s Todor in which many Turkish and Serbian heroes
are described. osman Tankovic from udbina, alija Bojicic from Cetinje,
Mahmut-aga Sarac and Merdan-aga from Hercegovina, Porca from
avala, Topal-Kamatar, Hrnja Mustaf-aga and his brother alil from
Kladusa, ramo Kovacevic from Sten, Mustaj-beg from lika, Tale from
orasac; then Ilija Tomkovic, Djuro Danicic, Petar Mrkonjic,  niko
Kulisic, Tadija Senjanin, Todor from Zadar, Marko Jeroglavac.  Stojan
Jankovic surpasses all of them.  Hrnja Mustaf-aga (or Mustafa Hrnjica,
or Mujo from Kladusa, aga) and the master in Velika Kladusa and in
Krajina are filled with fear and try to worn their brother alil:

The hero that rides at the end of the wedding parade,
on the courser horse born for the battle
with brown mustaches, brother, down to his shoulders,
falling down to his rifle,
covering the muzzle of the rifle,
his suite of armor shine through his mustaches
as moon  fifteen days long
shines through the branches of the fir…
to the unusual hero, seen; –
that is your Stojan Jankovic
that is your old combater,
brother, he is an angry serpent under the stone;
he annoyed the emperor and ceaser,
in Latin land, the Latin king.

In the last four verses, the poet concisely and clearly, accurately and
easily portrays the life and fate of Stojan Jankovic. He fought the who-
le century with the Turks,the austrians and with the Mlecics – to
create a place under the sun for his people and himself. In this, rests
his legacy. His second portrait is in the poem The Marriage of Stojan
Jankovic, where he is shown as a young man worthy of the portrait of
Duke Kajica. There he shines “all dressed up and in pure gold,” and
his incomparable power, which his enemy fears, is placed in two lines:

When the hero dunes from the grass,
branches wrap up the fir tree.

Stojan’s epic spirit is reinforced by a desire of many of his countrymen
to breathe, for once, clean and enemy-free air.
Senjanin Tadija, in the poem adequate title and best to stand as a
title, finishes the Hajduk-uskok school. His lectures and his legacy are
of vital importance for the nation that had been enslaved by the incom-
parably stronger enemy for many centuries and is depicted through
not having any fear of suffering, enduring even the worst of suffering
and never betraying friends. Tadija, along with thirty-four friends
took off through the mountains to catch Hasan-aga Kun and his thirty
Kraisniks. Thus, he decided to test the bravery of his troop by letting
live-skinned sheep and goat through fir branches:

The branch touches, the goat screeches,
The ram’s quiet, doesn’t let any sound.
Tadija speak to his people as a mentor:
You see, my dead brothers,
what suffering is upon the brother?
An even greater suffering is on the Turk
when they catch one of our heroes.
Who can endure the suffering,
to keep quiet, my dear brothers,
as the skinned ram in the mountains;
those that cannot endure suffering,
from me, may he be watched over by God,
and may he return to Senj in Krajina.

Due to his harsh lesson which is so obvious and so consistent with real
life, only two people of all the troops stay with him. However, three
real heroes can endure as much as needed, for they will capture the
entire Turkish army. Kostes the leader, in the same song, doesn’t seek
nor pursues the Turks, for he is a calm boarder guard of his own coun-
try. The border is represented as a great rocky mountain in depths of
which grows a hidden power for the final release. He doesn’t allow the
enemy to cross his border:

Kostesh the leader is sitting,
haiduk is sitting on a wide road,
holding a thin Brescia rifle on his lap…

The Turks are afraid of him even when they are apart sixty-seven log-
gings a day worth of walk! When they somehow gather their cour-
age to approach him, he greets them with his border guards – and he
sometimes leaves a messenger or two to go back to Turks to inflict fear
and bring back news of defeat. and since he does not trust them, he
lets them go with his usual mark – he cuts off their ears. In between
the two battles he quietly drinks the dark wine, to pay respects to his
enemy’s soul and to refresh himself. little radojica, in the poem under
the same title, seems to follow the lesson of Tadija Senjanin about eve-
rything that the haiduk and the uskok need to be able to endure. In
order to rescue himself from the Turkish dungeon, radojica pretended
to be dead trying to get a chance to escape. Becir-aga would believe
him, but Becir-aga’s wife does not believe that rade is dead and she
decides to confirm her suspicion by making him suffer in three differ-
ent ways: they start fire on his chest, place a poisonous snake under his
shirt and thrust twenty spikes under his nails:

Oh, Rade, you with your heroic heart,
you do not move and neither do you try to, Rade.

The poet, serene and in the midst of an accident through which he had
to live, finally describes the sight that even radojica cannot resist – a
dance of beautiful Hajkuna, Becir-aga’s daughter:

When little Radojica looks at her,
with his left eye he looks,
with his right mustache he smiles.

Everything else goes as planned – the girl hides him with her head-
scarf, the Turks throw him into the water believing him dead, and
after he swims out, he comes for revenge, taking the gold and Hajkuna,
whom he will make his wife andjelija. This is his legacy: a good hero
endures everything and at the end he gains fame, property and a bea-
utiful girl. and his fame is such that after he became a haiduk, the
Turks knew no peace for long nine years! In the humour of this poem
lies the humour of poems of the modern age, born out of the poet’s
confidence in the future of his own people.
“People rise on their feet, same as the grass rises from the earth!” is
the key verse of the second poem The Beginning of the Revolt Against
Dahijas, a poem that announces the new age in Serbian history and
in epic poetry. on the historical scene and in this song as well, for the